Sister Act

This was a great evening’s entertainment in a lovely, small-ish, theatre seating around 350 – and it was full!  By the end I reckon that the audience was as exhausted as those who took part either on stage, behind the scenes or in the orchestra which was well directed by Sam Wormald.

Director Rosalie Abel and her team obviously had a real vision for the production and adapted it really well for a stage that was not as big as some of the main professional theatres on which the show is normally presented.

I’m not sure what the show does for the cast but it brought out a wonderful exuberance and they were superbly led by Donna Switzer-Green as Deloris Van Cartier.  She attacked this challenging role from the start and I must congratulate her on not only her singing and overall characterisation but also her diction.  It was excellent and I could understand every word.  Donna excelled throughout, especially in the lovely ballad, Sister Act.

The other stand out performance came from Dave Blaker as gangster Curtis.  An experienced performer, he gave the character a gravelly voice and strong personality which were maintained for the entirety of his dialogue and songs.

I thought Jordan Butler (Joey), Joe Bowman (TJ) and Ivan Hall (Pablo) were very good as Curtis’s sidekicks and they had the audience in fits at times.

Katrina Stead had some difficult numbers to perform as Mother Superior and I would perhaps have preferred her portrayal to be a little softer in order to get a deeper empathy with Deloris.  I enjoyed Jonathan Jeeves as Eddie, the good cop who has a soft spot for Deloris, and his strong voice was much to the fore in I Could Be That Guy.

The chorus of Nuns were outstanding throughout with Dawn Hodgson shining as Sister Mary Lazarus, Lizzie Rowland giving a good account of herself as Sister Mary Patrick and Charlotte Brown showing real promise as the Postulant, Sister Mary Robert.  I also thought that Stuart Wells fully embraced his role as Monsignor O’Hara.

The choreography (by Caron Matthews) was energetic and well performed and the costumes were good.  The set, using cloths in the main along with some stage furniture was absolutely right for the theatre.  It’s a pity that one of the cloths was a little see through but, with so much going on, it did not detract.

The more is see this show the more I like it and this very good production from a talented local company did it full justice.  Super!

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